Atlantic Council Panel Debates Russia Election Interference Norms

Experts at an Atlantic Council event discussed policy responses—sanctions, indictments, doxing—to Russian election interference and disinformation.

This article recaps a September 2018 Atlantic Council panel discussion following the launch of an issue brief on Russian election interference. Panelists including Laura Galante, Sean Kanuck, and Michele Markoff debated categorizing cyber-enabled election interference and discussed policy tools available to victim states, such as indictments, sanctions, and doxing, while cautioning against escalation into disinformation warfare with Russia.

The discussion centered on policy and normative responses rather than technical threat details—no specific malware, indicators, or exploited vulnerabilities were described. Panelists agreed that military responses to election interference were unlikely absent physical damage, and instead favored targeted sanctions on Russian political and economic interests, along with public attribution and indictments as tools to impose costs on individuals involved. The piece also touches on resilience challenges, including a shortage of Russia expertise in the US and the need for public education on media literacy, alongside debate over the appropriate role of federal government versus state/local authorities in securing election infrastructure and combating disinformation.

Source reporting: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/event-recap/election-interference-emerging-norms-of-digital-statecraft-3